Hopelessness

Hopelessness is the darkest of all human experiences. It happens when a person can see no future worth living. Hopelessness strips away all motivation for living depriving us of all enjoyment and fulfilment.

 A 2003 article in the New Yorker magazine describes an unknown man jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California. The height of the bridge is 220 feet. The bridge spans the open sea, and a jump from the bridge is lethal. Only one person is known to have survived, and that is with critical injuries. The person hits the surface of the water at 75 miles an hour, causing almost certain and immediate death. The man’s psychiatrist, Jerome Motto, said this suicide affected him the most all the suicides he had dealt with. Following the man’s death, the psychiatrist accompanied the assistant medical examiner to the man’s apartment. The man was in his 30s and lived alone. They found in his apartment a suicide note that he had left: “I’m going to walk to the bridge. If one person smiles at me on the way, I will not jump.” The note underscores the fragile state of mind of many who live in severe depression.

This past week I received word that someone I knew who took his life. I was shocked but only reminded of how much people struggle to find purpose and meaning while hiding it from those around them. People lose hope in the future because they have experienced repeated disappointment, causing them to become obsessively negative. Just because we are followers of Christ does not give us immunity against such hopelessness. The clouds of darkness can block the sunlight, so we can’t see God’s sovereign purposes.

Jeremiah, while surveying the carnage and devastation left by the Babylonians when they conquered Jerusalem, wrote the Book of Lamentations. The prophet feels absolutely hopeless until he begins to think about God’s faithfulness:

Lamentations 3:21-25 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;

The prophet Isaiah says look up to heaven if you want hope:

Isaiah 40:28-31 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

 

I Can’t Wear That

After David convinced Saul through much persuasion that he would fight Goliath, King Saul finally consented for the shepherd boy to fight the giant. Saul, however, tried to equip David with his own armor and weapons (1 Sam 17:38-39). Saul tried to fit David in the same type of armor and weaponry that Goliath had.

However, Saul’s way could not be David’s way. He had never used such equipment, and now was not the time to start! David answered, “I cannot go in these, because I am not used to them.” So he took them off (1 Sam 17:39).

There are so many applications in David’s response to Saul. First, David declared that he would not imitate someone else even though he was pressured. David’s declaration, “I cannot go in these,” was an awareness of his identity in his creator and his appreciation for his gifts.

Fathers can be overbearing with their sons, wanting them to wear their armor and take their path. Husbands can be dominating to their wives, dictating how they should be. People, in general, can be very opinionated about what someone else should be and do.

When a person has understood their place in Christ and refuses to be dragged away from his purpose for their life—they will say, “I cannot go in these.”

Pastors face enormous pressure to put on someone else’s armor. “It worked for that pastor, then it should work for me.” I have discovered over the years that it is a bondage to constantly be trying on someone’s armor, only to realize too late that it does not work. How much better to declare, “I am not comfortable with these.” I will stick with the slingshot and these few stones. God has been with me before, and he will be with me this time.

There was only one way Goliath would be defeated and that was with God’s power. No one could see it except one shepherd boy. He recognized it immediately and wondered why no one else did. He never thought twice about fighting this monster because his confidence in God was so strong.

The gospel of Jesus Christ, like the gospel of David, addresses the real need with the only solution.

 

Families need the transformative power of Jesus to change.

Marriage needs Jesus to put them back together.

Addictive people cannot change without Jesus’ help.

The sadness and emptiness only change when you know the creator.